Favourite Airshow Moment

[KCDW]

The Spit thread was beginning to head towards Airshows, so I would start this one.

I was a the free one at Folkstone a few years ago watching a routine by a SEP, but I can't remember which. The crowd was looking at it as it flew off to the right (as you look out to sea), when the crowd was hit by this godalmighty BOOM as 2 Tornados, low down, flew in from the left, full Afterburner, the works.

It scared the bejesus out of everyone :\ :\ :\ . Fantastic

[bar shaker]

I love the power of the jets but my fav is watching Will Curtis in his SU26 :D

[Flik Roll]

The Tincan (tucano) display is a good 'un; reminds of watching spitfires...

[TheKentishFledgling]

Also love watching Will Curtis displaying - in the S2C used to be impressive, but the Sukhoi is something else.

Also a few years back a Hurricane and Tornado put on a formation display at Folkestone - very impressive to watch.

tKF

[shortstripper]

I remember at Farnborough in the 70's, my father and I were in one of the hangars when it all went quiet? People started to make their way hurriedly to the doors to look outside to identify the low rumble ... we followed. The rumble deepened as a Vulcan bomber swept past doing a low run and then pulled up to what looked like verticle. As it did, the pilot pulled out all the stops and I think I learned that day a little of what it must be like to feel an earthquake!!! :eek: The noise, the compression on the lungs and the tremour felt, was nothing short of AWESOME!

SS

[bcfc]

RIAT > Early 80's> Avro Vulcan > Turn to the right to expose full blast from the 4 Olympus (i think) engines > Nearly caused internal bleeding!> awesome > Long gone, never forgotten

[Cessna 210 Heavy]

If you want to hear it again, come to Southend and see XL426.

[Barnaby the Bear]

Seeing the BBMF always gives me a lump (in the throat) ..... Marvellous.. But the Typhoon is my new favourite. That thing is just a rocket with wings. Sounds superb too!!!

[DBChopper]

The Stealth Bomber at Biggin a couple of years back (2001-ish?).

I was looking round the RAF chapel, came out and it passed overhead looking for all the world like a UFO.

Wierd :ok:

[pup150]

Anyone remember seeing the Starfighter at airshows, I was impressed many years ago by a Luftwaffe F104 at Leauchars airshow, low level run at 100ft or so down the runway, full reheat. Flew past at I presume around 600 kts and after what seemed an age the noise hits you, incredible. Then into a vertical climb. The Lightning was equally impressive, modern fighters just don't seem quite the same!

Can't wait to see the Vulcan at airshows again, fingers crossed!

[Juliet Papa]

Got to agree with Shortstripper on this one - i remember seeing the Vulcan at Shoreham one year, must have been late 70's or early 80's and as a kid it simply took my breath away. Awesome is the only word! Roll on next year and we'll see it again - for anyone who hasn't experienced it, when XH558 gets airborne again, move heaven and earth to see it, 'cos it'll do the same to you! :ooh:

Another fond memory was about 15 or so years ago, my brother and I went to an airshow 'oop north' somewhere to film Dennis Kenyon displaying - the Red Arrows were there too. They departed as we filmed, and some half-hour later the announcer said over the tannoy 'And now ladies and gentlemen, a highlight of the show, I give you the Red Arrows...' At that precise moment, with no sound or prior warning, the entire formation flew from the back of the crowd overhead and broke in a burst in front of the crowd line, with an explosion of noise. Utterly unexpected, and utterly magical...:D

JP

[Squawk 2650]

You just cannot beat the Harrier!! Absolutely awesome aircraft!! Always gives me goose bumps when I see one!! A classic at any Air Show!!

S
:cool:

[Kolibear]

North Weald, 198?

Northwest Orient B747 doing passes down the runway escorted by various warbirds, Spitfire, P-51, P-47, P-40 etc.

A whale followed by minnows. I have a video of the event taken from the cockpit of the P-40, it is amazing.

[Miserlou]

Brendan O'Brien and John Taylor when they first started the RF-4 displays with music.
It was just so different from the repetitive fly-bys of the jet jocks.

But my vote is for sheer beauty, Pete Kynsey aerobatting the Jungmann at Headcorn, '91ish. There may have been a fly-in or it may have been an ordinary sunday but it just captured me that day.

[LowNSlow]

Vulcan XH558 leading the Red Arrows doing a low pass down West Malling's runway viewed from the cockpit of Sally B which was shaking from the vibration. Marvellous :ok: :ok:

Even if West Malling is no longer with us at least XH558 looks like getting back into the air in the near future.

F-4 Phantom in the early 70's turning within the runway area of St. Athan's with condensation trails covering the wings in a near vertical bank.

Xavier Lapparent (sp?) in his 400hp Sukhoi wonderplane doing helicopter like maneuvers at North Weald a few years ago.

[MyData]

Vulcan and Lightning at RAF Finningley sometime in the late 70s - awesome spectacle.

Impromptu Tornado performances in the Lake District, especially fast and low over Windermere.

Eurofighter on handling exercise while stuck in traffic near Preston.

I'm sure I saw a Spitfire / Hurricane combo as a small child but can't recall where...

But the best, by far, was the Concorde / Red Arrows down the Mall at the Golden Jubilee celebrations at the end of the long fly past.

http://www.rafmarham.co.uk/relations/stories/jub-fly1.htm

[treadigraph]

Many of the above...

Plus Brian Sanders in the R3350 Sea Fury at Chino in 2000 - a dive in from 6,000 and a low pass probably getting on for 500kts - looked and sounded wonderful. Shame it wasn't a Centaurus up front though...

[Maude Charlee]

I think it is hard to beat being a kid through the late 70's/early 80's. There was some great metal flying about back then. I used to adore going to airshows and watching Phantoms, Starfighters, Vulcans, Harriers, in fact anything that made so much noise you could feel it! That's what hooked me into flying, and I've never lost that thrill.

It's not quite the same now, though. The current generation of fast jets is fascinating in a different way. I'm looking forward to seeing the Typhoon in action, but not as much as seeing the Vulcan back on the display circuit. That old girl is my alltime favourite.

[Kolibear]

Its hard to beat 16 (or was it 20?) Spitfires in formation at Duxford for the Spitfire's 60th Birthday party.

I'm sure that mine where not the only eyes watering.

[airtoad]

Finningley in the 60's - the vulcan scramble with 6 or 8 vulcans taking off at 15 second intervals, one climbing, one rolling the next lining up.


The noise had to be felt to be believed. Hooked for life!:ok:

[BeauMan]

Kolibear - if you mean the Big Wing formation at Duxford, it was 19 Spitfires and 4 Hurricanes. And yes, my eyes were wet too.

[bar shaker]

I've only seen pictures of it, but has anyone seen the trick of dumping fuel and then flicking the burners on? If fuel is dumped, the result is a 100+m explosion behind the aircraft, or a fire trail, like in this picture, if the fuel trickles out ...

Follow the link as its copyrighted (http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=349743)

and this one that's even better (http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=302310)

[TD&H]

Who needs speed?

The fabulous day last year at Old Warden when they got all the Edwardians in the air (not quite at the same time). Frabjous Day Calloo Callay!

It felt almost as exciting as it must have been back in those far flung days when even seeing an aeroplane was a great occasion.

[revilo_rehsif]

Mine has to be at R.I.A.T 2003.

Watching the red arrows and a stealth bomber in formation, nothing short of breath-taking:ok:

[wingandaprayer]

I love WW2 aircraft displays, but the one memory that sticks is the Starfighter.
I was on Holiday in Cornwall (early eighties) and decided to go to the airshow at St. Morgan.
Two (German I think) Starfighters put on a display. The weather wasn't good, low cloud and poor viz.
They did a low close pass, one from either direction, and I wasn't the ony one who was impressed with how close they were at such speed. I seem to remember the crowd gasping in amazement, including me. The next one they were at least 1/4 mile apart and it was then that the tanoy announced that on the first one they couldn't see one another !

[shortandsmelly]

Saw EVERY airworthy Mustang in the country (Oz) in the air at once last year at Tyabb - seven of 'em. Sounded great!

[flugholm]

RAF Gatow ("Pons hider - pons hodie"). The last RAF air show there, circa 1990. A very gifted performance by... lo and behold... a BA B737 and 748... incredible... and never to be seen again...!

[gingernut]

Low fly past of Concorde at Barton, I think late 70's early 80's....

Fantastic !

[BigEndBob]

Shropshire aero club air display in 1969.

Ligthning right to left in near silence, going vertical, looking straight up the jet pipes, few seconds later the sound arrived.

If that doesn,t get you into aviation nothing will.

[Laundryman]

I don't know about favourite, but stunning was definitely Fairford two Russian jets colliding in mid air and minutes later two pilots walking away uninjured.

[PTR 175]

Firstly, seeing 2 Buccaneers flying between C (OCU) and D (208/809 NAS) hangars at RAF Honington in the late 70s

Secondly at Wyton, similar date, an OCU Bucc flying below the pan lighting and above a parked 360 sqn Canbera.

Next, the Dutch Airforce F27 troopship display at St Mawgan in the 1980s

Last but by no means least, All those Hunters at Kemble at the Aniversity fly past.

[Cuillin]

Battle of Britain Day - Finningley -early 80s

4 x Vulcan scrambled in a matter of minutes

One rotating, one half way down the runway, one starting to roll, next one lining up

All 4 pulling up at the end

THE NOISE!

Glorious



Former colleague described being #2 RAF Harrier on a sales tour of Canada in the early 70s. First visit of the Harrier to Canada.

One glorious summer evening the pair of them were asked to do a display, at short notice, over the lake beside downtown Toronto - just as people were leaving work.

As they started their display the whole downtown just stopped - Canadians had seen nothing like it - freeway was logjammed with vehicles which had stopped to watch the display.

Headline news on all the channels when he got to his hotel later in the evening.

He said it was one of his 'moments' in aviation.

[WebPilot]

Such a hard choice..

Several that come to mind:

The Silver Jubillee airshow at Finningley in 1977 where the Harriers performed their "bow" to the crowd for the first time, and also the 4-ship Vulcan scramble

The Belgian "Slivers" at Alconbury - a pair of F104s in fast head on passes with very little apparent room to spare.

The Red Arrows "Twinkle Roll" in the early 70s.

Adrian Gjertson in G-HUNT at the Fenland Air Show in about 1980 - low and fast and kicking up a maelstrom of hay from the straw bales around the spectator area!

So many good memories.

The 60s and 70s were certainly golden times for airshows, but the kids that saw the RAF at homes and Empire Day displays in the 30s might disagree about them being the best!!

However, although the variety of military machinery has diminished at todays airshows, we still get a fantastic variety of aircraft and I want to thank each and every display pilot for their art in showing these wonderful machines to us.

[Earthmover]

Ray Hanna's Spitfire displays of the early '70's - they were just plain beautiful.

[Blacksheep]

I'veexperienced so much good stuff up close at work, not at airshows. I've done those Vulcan display scrambles, feeling the guts rumble at very close quarters, dancing on the port wheels while pulling the Simstart cables out; worked on PA 474's restoration and watched her return to the air; seen Lightnings flash across from Binbrook at max chat, just in case the QRA Vulcans tried taking off when the Bomber Controller got his wires crossed and ordered a scramble instead of readiness zero-two; seen Harriers attacking our airport over here in Borneo during a joint exercise. Four different directions in as many seconds, flat out at extremely low level (below our car park on the hillside for sure). The Rapier batteries never saw them coming. Awesome!

But my favourite airshow moment has to be when, at the age of seven, I stepped into a Meteor cockpit during Battle of Britain day at RAF Thornaby, for a photograph. I still have it - worth every penny of one and sixpence that picture is...

[Wycombe]

Loads that I could recount, but the rolling B-1 at RIAT Cottesmore was quite special. Momentarily stopped the banter outside Aircrew Recpetion.

[Super Cecil]

Temora (Straliya) , every flying weekend. They fly 9 or 10 weekends a year and every day is as good as the last.

The machinery is everything from a Canberra (ex pommie) throught to a Tiger. All Aircraft are displayed to their advantage, usually up a flightline about 150 metres from the crowd. A Canberra starting a 10,000 foot loop right in front of you, or a Spit pullling up and away from 20 foot off the deck.

The Meteor (another ex pommie) whizzing past making that V8 sound then gracefully reversing direction with a Derry turn. Visiting Aircraft sometimes also add to the show, Mustangs, the Boomerang and even the Roulettes.

Every weekend is as good as the last.

[ORAC]

Hmmm, official or unofficial?

Official - Farnborough in the 60s with my father. Lightnings, Vulcans, Victors.. Just so many types.

Unofficial? Measles rock at Mount Alice. A lot of very, interesting, flypasts.

[Aeronut]

Dennis Kenyon Helicopter display Aerofair 2004
Xavier de Lapparent North Weald Aerofair 2000

The Turbulents limbo and bursting balloons at Cranfield PFA rally 1998 ish

[A37575]

While Australian cricketers are world class at sledging - but not playing the game, Sir, it is a fact of life that apart from the RAAF Hornets which very occasionally turn up at an air show, the Aussie flying shows are nowhere near the class and sheer variety of those in Britain. It is not anyone's fault - it is just that we don't have the aeroplanes that do the job loud and exciting enough.

One exception to that was at Townsville one late evening when a US Air Force F101 Voodoo gave an impromptu entirely unrehearsed display of after-burner power following a short test flight after an engine change.

That was back in 1958 when most of us Down-Under had never seen - or heard, an after-burner cutting in. The near vertical climb into the late setting sun, with two bunsen burners flaming out of it's arse-end was just the most awesome spectacle that I and a cheering crowd of RAAF ground staff had ever seen.

[SPIT]

One of the funniest moments I saw at an airshow was at Liverpool (SPEKE) airport in the 70s ???. A Lightning passed the crowd (just under the speed of sound they said later) but he approched from the REAR of the crowd and no-body expected it. I think the person by me had a bowel movement and a baby in a pram jumped out with shock . They can't do that now.:ok: :ok:

[pall]

Without a dobt the most amazing display I have ever seen was BOB HOOVER at AVALON, I think around 2001.

He did this amazing display in a SHRIKE MASTER twin. Shut down both engines at about 3000'. Then performed a full glide aerobatic display under the guise of "ENERGY MANAGEMENT."

The climax was: follwing his dead stick landing he rolled up to the commentator on the strip who held out his hand. BOB stopped the AC with the stationary starboard spinner against the commentators out stretched hand.

SCUTTLEBUT says that after the display the AC had to be towed to the hangar where all the oil was drained from both engines and replaced as the AERO routine with engines off caused oil to go everywhere.

Also the rumour mill says that Australian Aviation refused initially to let HOOVER fly until he took up a CASA testing officer and wowed him with his ability. This man is a ledgend, not flying now but I will never forget his display!!

[treadigraph]

Mike, correct!

Pall, I think it must have been earlier than 2001 as, so far as I can recall, Bob flew his last Shrike display in 2000 before grounding himself - I saw him fly at Reno in 1999, as you say, awesome!

He was actually grounded by the FAA in the early 90s on some medical pretext or other, and while a campaign was fought in the USA to get his medical back, CASA allowed him to fly in Australia - must have been about 1994?

Very sad that he didn't peform in the UK; I'd loved to have seen his act in the P-51D.

[Centaurus]

Bob Hoover's aerobatic displays with both engines feathered certainly put paid to the myth of shock cooling of piston engines. He used stock standard Shrike's I believe and I haven't heard of any operator refusing to lend him a Shrike for his displays because of shock cooling concerns.

[Earthmover]

Someone once said that Bob Hoover's spectacular displays might just sell the Commander ..... but not that one!

[TwoDeadDogs]

The PFA tent at Cranfield. At one end, their Airships are pretending to be unable to hear and see the display occurring at the other end, which consists of a gang of lads, having lined up a row of trestle tables and sloshing them down with beer, then attempting "carrier" landings on their beer-swollen bellies, on the tables. The first guy tripped just before touchdown and head-butted the edge of the table, the second and third made good landings "on" but slid off the sides and the fourth made a perfect landing and sailed off the other end. Another tried to land with the t-shirt pulled over his face but had a disasterous crash into a pile of empty beer bottles. Absolutely priceless to see!
regards
TDD

[wub]

Just found this link to Bob Hoover video (it starts about one third of the way through the clip, stick with it to see THE lowest pass ever!)

http://www.airviolence.com/e107_files/downloads/Airshow/finally.mov

[treadigraph]

He actually wiped off the belly aerials at one show...